Cassie was more confused than anything now as Nolian practically stuttered out some words. Wait... he wasn't coming? Ah, she knew it. He was actually terrified of her now. He wanted nothing to do with her, and was just too scared to say it to her face. I mean, who could blame him? A human with animal features? The very idea was insane. Like something from a book.

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However, Cassie was distracted from her self-destructing thoughts when Alma suddenly could be heard from the phone. "Uhh... wait, what?" Cassie asked in confusion, her eyebrow raising slightly. Okay, she was now officially confused. What was going on?

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Before Cassie could finish running through all her worst-case thoughts, a knock at her door came. She cautiously went to answer, opening the door just a sliver of a crack to see who it was. Seeing Alma and Nolian, she widened the crack just slightly, anxious and confused.

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That's when she saw Nolian's wings. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Ha... hahah, this- this was insane. This... shouldn't be possible. This wasn't right. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out the first thing her tired mind thought of. "Told you not to touch the dang necklace." Cassie muttered under her breath, presuming that was why Nolian was now sporting a pair of gorgeous brown wings.

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With a sigh, she finally opened her door wide enough for the two to come in. She stepped back, all the while eyeing the two nervously. Something told her this wasn't going to be a normal conversation in the slightest, which was even more heartwracking than seeing Nolian with wings.

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She was also anxiously curious about Alma. She had obviously seen Nolian, but what was Alma's intentions? Was she getting them both together so the cops could catch them and lock them up forever in isolation? Or was she kind like Nolian and just trying to help? Also, how did they get here so fast?

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Despite that, though, Cassie was now glad that she wasn't able to go to sleep and instead cleaned her house. Now she didn't have to worry about looking horrible because she just woke up and her house being a mess.

Alma ushered the young man in the moment she opened the door, pulling it closed behind her.

"It wasn't the necklace, dear," Alma chided and shook her head, moving around to make sure curtains were closed and blinds were shut. "A relic can only pass on to one person."

"It must've been the angel that I ... dropped," Nolian winced and rubbed the back of his neck. He stood awkwardly in place for a long moment. "Also I look really ... uh... bad, I'm so sorry. I think I just smeared blood all over my back and stuff."

Alma tutted softly, gesturing for Cassie to take a seat. "You're not alone in this world," she began to explain with a gentle tone. Once again, she lifted her palm, calling a leafy vine to worm around her fingers. "But some are easier to hide than others."

She flashed Nolian a weary and wane look before turning back to Cassie. The woman's eyes were soft and fond as she took a seat. "I meant to move that box out myself. I could sense the relics inside but it got buried before I could. I didn't expect for you two to get to it as fast as you did. I had come back tonight to get rid of it... and found someone else instead."

Nolian waved his hand lightly, an embarrassed grin on his face. "Heh... I was looking at the books to see if one might help explain."

The woman shook her head. "No. But, luckily for you two, normal people can't see these. It isn't until you're exposed to it--like you were--that you can see the magical."

Cassie was taken aback for a moment as Alma quickly corrected her before taking charge of the whole situation. Okay, why did Alma seem so sure of herself? Before Cassie could really come up with something to say, Nolian spoke up, turning her attention to him. Ah, yeah, now that she was looking closer, he did have a blood smeared back.

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Though Cassie didn't really want to sit down, she followed Alma's orders and sat down on the couch, careful not to hurt her tail. Her eyes widened in surprise when the older woman suddenly had vines wrapped around her fingers. For some reason, that fact scared her more than Nolian's wings, which had her flinching back slightly.

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Cassie was relieved to hear that normal people couldn't see her ears and tail. But that relief was quickly drowned out when the stress of the situation hit her. It seemed like everything was happening too fast. A couple minutes ago she was alone in her apartment, but now a winged Nolian and a take-charge Alma were crowding her space.

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Swallowing hard, Cassie stood up again. She turned to Nolian, once again examining his wings. "I'll get some stuff to help with... uh... you're back." She murmured, bowing her head slightly as she headed for her bathroom. She grabbed her first aid kit along with a couple of towels. She then stopped by her room, grabbing one of her brother's old shirts. She hoped her two guests wouldn't question why she had a guy's shirt in her house. How could she make them understand that she just couldn't bear to get rid of most of her brother's stuff?

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Cassie also grabbed some ibuprofen before finally making it back to the living room where the two were waiting. She layed the stuff on the couch, eyeing Nolian as she debated whether to offer her help or not. But even if she didn't help, someone would need to clean Nolian's back to make sure he didn't get an infection, and Nolian couldn't do it properly himself.

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It's not like Cassie didn't want to help, she just didn't want to be responsible for accidentally hurting him more than he already was. "Here." She mumbled, giving Nolian the pain reliever. "Also... would you like help?" She reluctantly added, glancing at the supplies before looking at Nolian again.

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Nolian attempted to pace back and forth and was quickly stopped by Alma's hand on his shoulder. Instead of pacing, he took a seat on the floor, his legs crossed over each other. "It's..." he went to reassure her that it was alright but the woman had already stepped away.

Nolian rubbed the back of his neck and sighed softly. Well, so much for that. Not to mention that he was not ready for a lot of this. People couldn't see them but he could. They felt very real, very-very real. Would it mean that he would have to be careful about knocking things over? What would people see or think? Or would they care at all?

As Cassie came back, he looked up and smiled faintly. She had a painkiller, a first aid kit and an old shirt. He really didn't need the shirt--he had plenty of his own. He was grateful for the thought but at the same time, Finn didn't want to ruin any of her shirts. Especially old ones that looked like they might have had some significance to her.

"I..." he tilted his head back and forth before sighing. "Yeah, I think some help would be nice. It doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would, surprisingly."

Alma tutted softly and took a seat on the now vacant couch. "What questions do you both have? I will do my best to answer them."

"Lucky." Cassie responded without much thought as Nolian told her it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. To elaborate, she added, "Mine hurt alot." She then paused, thinking over her words, before adding yet another little end note, "Though, I'm glad I didn't bleed."

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Cassie sat down behind Nolian, ready to take care of him the best she could. Of course, she was still terrified to hurt him more, but that couldn't be helped at this point. She hesitated before speaking up, saying, "Wait, how the heck are you supposed to get changed every morning? Also, I can't exactly clean your wounds properly with the fabric in the way."

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After Cassie got that out of the way, she couldn't help but examine Nolian's wings now that she was so close she could reach out and touch them. She wouldn't actually dare to touch them, but still, a girl could dream. They looked surprisingly fragile yet resilient.

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Hearing Alma's question, Cassie thought for a while. What did she want to know most? It was hard to narrow down, considering every bit of this situation was unnatural. "Uhh... so, you said a relic can only pass to one person, and I'm presuming the necklace and the angel were those said relics but, what exactly are relics? How did they give us this... power? Do you... even know? Is there a way to reserve the effects?"

Nolian let out a weary noise. "Pros and cons," the young man attempted to maybe chuckle loosely though it seemed to fall flat. "It didn't hurt but it bled. Did hurt but didn't bleed, guess it'd suck real bad if it did both."

He exhaled softly and shrugged. "I dunno, maybe I'll just ... cut some shirts of mine to make it fit. If I do it right, I just cut it out on the back and then I can add some more buttons and stitch holes down the middle and just button it around them, right?"

He shrugged loosely, trying to help her peel the rest of the shredded shirt off and out of the way. His faded blue eyes slowly slid closed, exhaling softly as Alma picked up the conversation from her spot on the couch.

"Correct, a relic can only pass on the magic to one handler," Alma confirmed quietly. "I made the mistake of pulling a potted plant out of an old box--oh decades ago--and that's how I came to have mine."

She paused for a moment or two as she thought about the next question. "Relics can be anything at all, as long as they've been infused with magic and have an activation mechanism. Usually it's touching or holding, sometimes it's a spell or keyword."

Nolian winced slightly and shook his head. "Is there a way to reverse it?" He echoed Cassie's question. "It would be absolutely wicked if there was."

"There is not," Alma replied gently, wearily, "but fear not. Normal people can not see you as you are now. They see you as normal as they are."

"... weird."